Over the next couple of weeks, SJI will be presenting a series of endorsements of the state propositions and local measures that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot. These were written by reporters and editors at Metro and its sister-publications, and are presented here not so much to preach any one point of view, but more to spur conversation and debate. Of course we are counting on all of you to contribute your two-cents worth.

Proposition 444 Would Make Albino Enclave Independent Nation

Deep in the heart of Alum Rock Park, a small enclave of un-dead albinos numbering somewhere in the hundreds have been working quietly and diligently, in between the sacrificing of small domestic animals, to gather enough signatures to place a proposition on the ballet that would dramatically change their standard of living by declaring them an “independent political community” preceding pigmented colonization.

After a recent trip to Chicago, San Jose City Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio warmly posed this question at the end of a blog entry: “What cities have you visited that you feel San Jose could learn from and/or adopt best practices from?”

Well, I’ll begin my answer to that question with, “San Francisco,” and mention an upcoming soirée that author and pal Erik Davis is hosting on Nov. 1 at Artists Television Access (ATA) in the Mission District. Davis will lecture and present an evening of obscure films exploring the influence of philosopher, poet and mountain climber Aleister Crowley on 20th/21st-century subcultures, including the music of Led Zeppelin.

Food for Thought

Your proposition may be good
But let’s have one thing understood—
Whatever it is, I’m against it!

With the approach of every election with state propositions to consider, I start hearing Groucho Marx singing “Whatever it is, I’m Against It” from Horsefeathers in my head. That’s exactly how I feel when I look through the 12 propositions on this year’s ballot. Why are we even being asked to consider most of them?

There’s something profoundly wrong with an economic system that sells homes cheaply then takes them away from young families; that encourages wasteful energy consumption while fuel prices double and ExxonMobil serially breaks corporate profit records ($12bn last quarter). And there’s something immoral about a political order that allows its leaders to invade countries on pretext then fails to hold them accountable; that end-runs international and constitutional principles on torture and incarcerating the innocent while endeavoring to globally spread its values.

Well although tonight is the last Presidential debate,  I won’t pay much attention. This one is over except for the huffing and puffing of the talking heads,  the excuses of the consultants, and the dearly needed change in this country. Even Tina Fey has had enough, vowing to go to outer space if Palin wins. 

But there is one Presidential event worthy of comment that occurred 96 years ago yesterday: Teddy Roosevelt was shot.

As we trudge through October, reading about the Great Depression and the Dow, layoffs and 401Ks, we also listen to the Presidential candidates promise that their way will be the way out of the slump we are in.  So who are we to believe? McCain makes promises and slams George W. and his own party for many decisions they have made. Is he part of the problem and now washing his hands of it now that it’s convenient and opportunistic for him? What can John McCain do to get us out of our slump? In the same vein, Obama has no problem pointing out the mistakes of a Republican President and how things would be different with a Democratic President such as himself in the White House.  But can Obama really make changes that will last and get us out of Great Depression, the Sequel?

There’s an organization called CEOs For Cities that has weighed in heavily on the question of how American cities should address their futures.  According to Carol Coletta, the organization’s president, “Many of our communities are built on outdated assumptions.”

“We thought gas would always be cheap and plentiful, we could always grow our way out of congestion and new sources of labor would always be plentiful.  We assumed Americans were willing to abandon a public life, content to live privately in their ever-expanding suburban homes.”

While the economic morass commands the headlines, there is a bright spot in San Jose. Specifically, south San Jose, in Edenvale.

Much of this manufacturing has gone overseas for lower labor and material costs. However, due to the increase in the price of oil, the shipping and logistics costs have made it more sensible to build here vs. China for some companies. Plus, their customers do not have to travel around the globe to visit their outsourced manufacturing facilities—and especially for medical devices, the USA still has better quality.

Ever have one of those days when you can’t get an old tune out of your mind? All day yesterday I kept hearing the Steely Dan song “Black Friday.” Use this weekly open forum to tell us what noises and voices you hear in your head.

350,000 Kids March on Washington

In response to the news that Mother’s Cookies filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, several hundred thousand kids organized a march on Washington in order to demand a bailout of the company that has graced children’s bag lunches with their product for nearly 100 years.

“If we can give $750 billion to fat-cat CEO’s and Wall Street pimps that got us into this mess,” said an attorney hired to represent the children, “then we can certainly see to it that this iconic cookie company stays in business.”

Allow me to bark about a few upcoming events in downtown San Jose the weekend of Oct. 24/25 that will undoubtedly rock the house in more ways than one. And they don’t even involve music. At least not yet.

On Saturday, Oct. 25, the Singularity Summit, the premier academic conference on the concept of The Singularity, will take place at the Montgomery Theater. By now, most technologists have at least heard of this concept, whether they agree with it or not. The Singularity is the theoretical inflection point in the development of history—either magical or apocalyptic or impossible depending on which camp you’re in—where computers catch up to human intelligence, overtake our brain power in terms of processing capability and then never look back. That is, machines will become self-aware and improve their own designs, humans will no longer be driving technological advancement and we can only speculate about what happens afterward. The posthumanism crowd relishes in the positive aspects, while the dystopians rail against it all.

Food for Thought

What number is 10,217,023,029,529? No, it’s not the largest known prime number recently discovered by mathematicians using powerful computers. It was the amount of the gross national debt at the moment I wrote the number and in the meantime it has grown by almost $10 million. If you are like me and have been trying to make sense of all the big numbers being thrown around these days, it’s nearly impossible. Thanks to my good friend Gray Maxwell, a senior US Senate staffer on Capitol Hill, I have a way to bring the enormity of the situation home by casting the numbers in terms of our city and as individual citizens and thinking about what we could buy with that money.

There is little doubt that if measures J and K, our local telephone taxes, do not pass on the current ballot, then the quality of life in San Jose is going to change a great deal—for the worse.

As in most elections recently, real estate interests and developers have put up a large amount of the money. That is not unusual. Yet it seems that some of those interests have not been heard from for some time, the casinos at the top of the list, and they are back in the fray. Along with the Irvine Company, Equity Residential and other big-name donors are two names that we have not heard lately except in court rooms,  legal briefs and city accusations: Garden City Casino and Bay 101.

Everywhere you look, everything you read, spells out impending doom. Every picture of Wall Street traders shows them beaten down, frustrated and worn. Companies are going under like an old man slipping into a bathtub. Layoffs. Bankruptcy. Takeovers. And then there are the banks.

We were always taught that having a bank account is the single most reliable and safe way to keep your money.  But now, with banks failing and on the verge of failing, does having money in your mattress and overflowing out of piggy banks make more sense?

To no one’s surprise, the Mercury News Editorial Board recently voiced their support for Measure B, the 1/8 cent sales tax designed to help bring BART to San Jose. Among their arguments for the measure was the statement that BART is “a strategy to connect the region’s major cities, universities, airports and other institutions…”

In terms of connecting the universities, I vaguely remembered that the proposed station for San Jose State had been scrapped in an effort to cut costs.